


Blindsight

by quiet_cat



Series: Impaired!Hinata [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A little kissing, Blind (sorta) Character, Blindsight!Hinata, Cute little babes, Daichi knows all, Fluff, He knows things about the brain, He's very smart about his disability at least, Hinata doesn't let his disability get to him, Hinata knows some things, Hinata loves volleyball, Impaired!Hinata, KageHina - Freeform, Kageyama is impressed by Hinata, Kageyama loves Hinata, M/M, Mama!Suga, Tanaka and Noya are very enthusiastic for Hinata, appreciation, blindsight, mwah, the ending is really fluffy okay, they hold hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 17:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5975077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet_cat/pseuds/quiet_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Blindsight. My occipital lobe was damaged so there is no link between my eye and the visual cortex. Technically, the eyes still function, but my vision is black. So, I'm blind in the sense that I am unable to see objects placed before me, but I can guess, with a 98% accuracy, what it is, as in shape and size, and where it is. It's like, I can't see it but the information about the object is there, in my brain, I just have to really focus to access it. It's thought that a primitive visual system of the midbrain is at work." It's one of the few things, aside from volleyball, that Hinata understands so well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blindsight

Frankly, Kageyama is a little embarrassed by how long it took him to realize that Hinata wasn't normal. Well, he knew that Hinata wasn't normal, but he definitely didn't realize that Hinata was disabled. Of course, Kageyama figured that most days even Hinata forgot that he was disabled, considering how well he handled it. Really, though, he should have realized before, or at least questioned Hinata about it. Now that he looked back on previous instances like this one, it was painfully obvious. 

The first time they had met, before Kageyama knew anything about the boy, he had noticed that whenever they would have some sort of interaction, Hinata would look just a little too high, or a little too far to the side of his face. Kageyama had chalked it up to nerves then, but it was definitely strange having someone only sort of look in the right direction while having a conversation. 

Later, when they were on the same team, but before they became friends, Hinata would sometimes walk right past the ball he was supposed to be retrieving, or walk right into the net. The middle blocker would always laugh and mumble something about percentages under his breath, but it was never loud enough for Kageyama, or the rest of the team, to hear him.

The first time they ever heard anything about why he would do these things, they were putting away the volleyballs and cleaning up the gym for the day. Hinata had tripped over a volleyball and landed on his face, while he was complaining he had said, in a louder voice, "98%, come on!"

"98% what?" Sugawara had questioned, walking over to make sure the first year was alright.

"Huh?" Hinata had questioned, staring blankly in Suga's direction before perking up with understanding, "Oh! 98% accuracy, very high but still not quite enough to get it right every time."

Suga had frowned, and Kageyama had too, but before either of them could question further Hinata was back up on his feet, tossing the volleyball in the direction of the carrier. It landed perfectly in the center and he called out, "Yeah! 98%!" before dashing off toward the other end of the gym. The two setters had shared a look of confusion before they both shrugged and got back to their tasks. 

Ever since the first time, Hinata had said it louder and with more confidence. Any time he would mess up, he would simply call out 98% before getting back to whatever it was that he was doing. Without really understanding what the number meant, Tanaka and Noya would often join in, or say it before Hinata would get a chance to. The middle blocker would always smile brightly at the two of them before agreeing. 

Kageyama wanted to ask for a long time, but he was always worried that perhaps the reason that Hinata never went into detail was because he didn't want to talk about it. Kageyama was blunt and admittedly clueless most of the time, but when it came to Hinata he was always a little more careful, a little bit kinder than perhaps necessary. It took him many months before he realized that he was nicer to Hinata than anyone else because he actually _liked_   his team mate. That had, at first, been a shock and a half, but gradually Kageyama questioned how he hadn't realized his feelings sooner. Sort of like how he hadn't realized about Hinata's disability sooner. 

They had been walking home, like they always did, when Hinata stepped in a pot hole, which he usually walked around no problem. Kageyama had grabbed his arm and stopped him from falling. After he was steady, Hinata had laughed, a slight blush on his cheeks and said, as if it was no big deal, "98%"

"Hinata. What does that even mean? 98%? Why do you even say that? No one gets it." Kageyama's voice was a little harsher than he intended.

Thankfully, Hinata did not seem perturbed, "What do you mean? Noya and Tanaka say it all the time! Even Asahi has said it!"

"That's just because you do it all the time." Kageyama frowned, "Not because they understand."

Now Hinata was pouting, "I don't say it all the time. I only say it 2% of the time."

Kageyama groaned, "That still doesn't make sense! Why do you do that?"

"Well I only have a 98% accuracy with my blindsight. So 2% of the time I get things wrong."

Kageyama blinked at Hinata for a moment, confused, before questioning, "Blindsight?"

"Blindsight. My occipital lobe was damaged so there is no link between my eye and the visual cortex. Technically, the eyes still function, but my vision is black. So, I'm blind in the sense that I am unable to see objects placed before me, but I can guess, with a 98% accuracy, what it is, as in shape and size, and where it is. It's like, I can't see it but the information about the object is there, in my brain, I just have to really focus to access it. It's thought that a primitive visual system of the midbrain is at work."  Hinata tilted his head a little, his gaze fixated just a little to the right of Kageyama's eyes.

"You're _blind_?!" Kageyama squawked.

"No! I mean, yes but no!" Hinata shook his head aggressively, "I can't see but I can see!"

"That makes no sense, dumbass Hinata!"

The shorter boy groaned and rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair in the process, "Okay. I can't see you, but if you asked me to guess where you are, or where the road is or how many fingers your holding up, I could do it and be correct 98% of the time!"

Kageyama held up four fingers on his left hand, "How many is this?"

"Four. But I mean-"

"How many is this?

"Two. I'm trying to-"

"How many?"

"Kageyama! Stop," Hinata yelled, but there was a smile on his face, "And besides you're holding up a fist right now. I'm trying to explain my blindsight to you!"

The setter let his hand drop, "You really can't see? Do you know what I look like?"

"Sort of. Colors are harder for me. I only have about a 70% accuracy with them. I think your hair is black, and your eyes are like, blue right?"

Kageyama nodded, then frowned and said, "Yes. Can you see me nodding?"

"No! I can't _see_ it, but I know you're doing it."

"This is so confusing!"

Hinata laughed and reached out to pat Kageyama's cheek, "I can explain again?"

Kageyama felt his face flush at the contact and he turned his head to the side, "Okay."

"So there is a part of your eye, uh, system," Hinata pointed at his right eye, "Called the occipital lobe. It's located behind your actual eyeball. So, when you see things, the image passes through here and eventually makes it to the visual cortex,  which is part of the forebrain." Hinata now tapped part of his head, "So this lobe was damaged when I was 5. I got in an accident, it's not important. Anyway, when it became damaged I stopped being able to see. So, I'm blind, my vision is totally black. My eyes, though, they still technically work. They aren't dead or anything like regular blind people. So the information of the environment is going in, but it gets confused at the occipital lobe, so it never makes it to the visual cortex. I mean, maybe it makes it, but the visual cortex can't understand the message. Does that bit make sense?"

Kageyama frowned a little, "I guess? Why do you sound so smart right now? You get worse grades than I do?"

"Hey! I've been dealing with this for ten years! I have to understand it, school stuff is hard!" Hinata pouted.

"Yeah, yeah, so you're saying that your eye isn't broken, it's the delivery system?"

"Basically, yeah!" Hinata was smiling again, and Kageyama rolled his eyes at how fast the orange haired boy's moods shifted, "However, the doctors, or scientists, whatever, think that a primitive visual system in the midbrain processes the information and stores it in my mind."

The setter arched a brow, "They think? Aren't they supposed to be experts?" 

"No one understands everything about the brain, Bakayama! And not a lot of people have blindsight, you know!"

"Okay, okay. Continue." Kageyama huffed in response.

“So all I have to do is try and I can access it! Most people only have about a 70% accuracy with their guesses, but I have 98%!” Hinata grinned widely, and Kageyama thought that he looked really proud of this feat.

“Is it actually guessing then?”

Hinata tapped his chin, “It doesn’t really feel like guessing because I’m usually sure that I’m right, I mean, I’ve had a decade to work on it!”

“That’s… Weird.”

“I guess. It’s normal to me! I thought you guys knew? Or at least knew that I couldn’t see the same way that you do!”

Kageyama gently punched Hinata’s arm, “How could we have possibly known that, dumbass?”

“Hey, Bakayama! It’s pretty obvious I’m not normal!”

“Yeah, but not obvious that you’re blind!”

Hinata pouted and yelled in response, “Hey! That’s mean!”

Kageyama rolled his eyes, and grabbed onto Hinata’s arm before tugging him so he would start walking again, “I never said I was nice.”

A smile lit up the middle blockers face, “That’s true.”

Kageyama huffed slightly, “Whatever.”

Hinata talked about various other things the rest of the way home, and though Kageyama attempted to listen, he couldn’t help but think about how impressive Hinata was. He was, for all intents and purposes, blind, but he still played volleyball and was actually kind of good (well he was getting better). He didn’t seem to mind the fact that he was disabled, or even consider himself to be disabled. Kageyama had met people with impairments before, but none that overcame it as brilliantly as Hinata did.

When they parted ways, a tiny part of Kageyama’s heart cried out, because damn it all if Kageyama didn’t love the shorter boy even more for all this.

 

* * *

 

Over the next few days Hinata went out of his way to explain to the rest of the team about his blindsight. Daichi surprised everyone by saying that he already knew about Hinata’s disability, though he just explained that he had to know, being captain and all.

Tanaka and Noya thought Hinata was way cooler for it, and were even more enthusiastic about joining in with Hinata when he messed up, going so far as to practically scream out the percentage each time. Hinata seemed to like the encouragement, and Kageyama figured that it was probably nice to be reminded that even when he made a mistake, more often than not he was correct in his guessing.

Tsukishima seemed to really enjoy teasing Hinata about it, but unlike all his other teasing, this was usually not said in a mean or sarcastic way. When he did say something a little too harsh, Yamaguchi was there to remind him to watch it.

Suga took to caring a little more about Hinata when he would make a mistake. He spoke in a softer tone and often went out of his way to remind Hinata what a good job he was doing and how impressive he was. Hinata practically preened every time.

All in all, Hinata seemed to grow closer to everyone, and Kageyama was no exception. The setter had worried at first that his concern may be mistaken as underestimation, but Hinata seemed to especially enjoy the attention that Kageyama now offered. In fact, he was the one who suggested that Kageyama could hold his hand on the walk home because _‘what if it’s part of the 2% I’m wrong and I trip? What then Bakayama?’_

And, well, Kageyama couldn’t live with that on his conscious (also he really did want to hold Hinata’s hand).

The middle blocker seemed to get better at volleyball every day, under the attention and praise of his team-mates, he flourished. Part of Kageyama was a little bit jealous that Hinata responded so well to other people’s words, but he knew that it was good for Hinata to be encouraged. He also consistently reminded himself that the shorter boy probably didn’t share his feelings in the first place.

On a bright Saturday afternoon, Kageyama met up with Hinata in a park close by to their homes. They had originally planned on practicing receiving, but instead they were laying in the grass looking up at the sky. Kageyama glanced over at Hinata before he spoke, “Do you actually know what I look like?”

“I told you before,” Hinata’s eyes were closed, and a smile was on his face, “Only sort of. I get the color of your eyes and hair, and the overall shape of your face but it’s kind of hard to be sure because I can’t actually see it. It’s sort of hard to explain this aspect of my blindsight.”

“What do you think I look like?”

“Why do you care so much?” Hinata mumbled, his cheeks oddly pink.

Kageyama shrugged and looked back up at the sky, “I dunno. It’s just weird to think that I see your face every day but you might not even know what I look like.”

“Oh, uh.” Hinata cleared his throat, “If I could draw it would help but I can’t so…”

“Hm.” Kageyama closed his eyes, “Okay.”

Hinata was silent for a moment, but Kageyama could hear him shifting around. Before he could question the shorter boy, he felt soft fingertips on his face. Kageyama’s eyes flew open and he found Hinata’s face hovering not too far above his own, “Dumbass, Hinata! What are you doing?”

“Seeing you.” Hinata smiled, “I’m trying to find out if the image I have in my head is reality.”

Kageyama sucked in a breath as Hinata’s finger tips ghosted along his jaw, “And you have to touch me for this?”

“Of course! Silly, haven’t you seen any movies with blind people?”

The setter wanted to say something snappy in return, but found the fight leave him as Hinata traced along each of his eyebrows, “Okay, fine. Just hurry up.”

Hinata simply hummed, “Close your eyes.”

Kageyama obliged him, his heart hammering furiously in his chest. The setter willed himself not to blush and bit his inner cheek to stop himself from saying something wildly inappropriate.

The finger tips softly brushed over each of his eyes before sliding down the slope of his nose. Kageyama forced himself to hold in a gasp as Hinata traced over his lips. The middle blocker did this twice more before slowly pulling his hands away, and though Kageyama’s eyes were closed, he knew that Hinata was still hovering just above him. “Just as I thought,” The middle blocker murmured, “You’re beautiful.”

Kageyama let out a shaky breath, “Hinata –“

Before he could continue Hinata had leaned down and pressed his lips just to the right of Kageyama’s. The orange haired boy laughed softly, “98%” before shifting just a bit and pressing their lips together.

Thankfully for Kageyama, his body was not as shocked as his brain and he was able to bring up on hand to slide into Hinata’s, soft, so soft, hair and his lips pressed back. He had never kissed anyone before, and while it wasn’t quite what he was expecting, it was still absolutely amazing.

Hinata tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss, and Kageyama made a soft noise at the back of his throat before pulling the boy closer to him. They kissed for what felt like forever, but must have only been a few more seconds, before Hinata pulled back slightly.

“You don’t have to worry, Bakayama.” Hinata’s nose softly brushed against Kageyama’s, “I don’t even need blindsight to see you.”

“Dumbass.” Kageyama murmured affectionately, “You’re really impressive, you know that?”

Kageyama could feel Hinata’s answering smile, even though their lips were no longer touching, which really was a shame. They definitely should be kissing.

Kageyama pulled Hinata back in for a second kiss, and thought that getting it this right 98% of the time wasn’t such a bad way to live.

**Author's Note:**

> So blindsight is very real! However, no patients have quite the ability to overcome it in the way that Hinata does in the fic. His statistic of about people getting about 70% of things correct is true. While it is not impossible for someone to adapt as well as Hinata, it has yet to happen in any patient of which I have heard.
> 
> I'm going to do a series of Impaired!Hinata fics. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but the thought of him having a disability and completely overcoming it to play volleyball + Kageyama falling for his adorable, impressive ass gives me life.


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